Duplicating ribbons with self-attachment means



May 27, 1969 G. F. BAGNALL 3,446,329

DUPLICATING RIBBONS WITH SELF-ATTACHMENT MEANS Filed Oct. 28, 1966 I NVEN TOR.

Geo/jg@ f7 ,Bayna Z United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 197-172 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE adhesive.

This invention is concerned primarily with the problem of attaching wide duplicating ribbons to electronic data processing printers, calculators, magnetic imaging machines and similar machines which make use of duplicating ribbons of large widths. In the case of electronic data processing printers, one such ribbon is fourteen inches wide, twenty yards long and consists of woven nylon impregnated with an oil and carbon black liquid ink similar to typewriter ribbon ink.

As can be appreciated, such wide ribbons are difficult to attach to the ribbon take-up spool Without dirtying the hands. Also, unless -attachment is uniform across .the Width of the ribbon, the ribbon will wind unevenly, causing wrinkling of the fabric. Then when the ribbon is unwound for realignment, the ribbon must again be attached rto the spool necessitating that the ribbon be rehandled and that the attachment means be reusable.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a duplicating ribbon with means for uniformly and releasably attaching such ribbons on the take-up spool of a duplicating machine in such a manner that manual contact with the ribbon fabric is avoided, uniform feeding of the ribbon is insured and reattachment of the ribbon tothe spool as many times as necessary is possible. The term spool is referred Ito in its generic sense as including any hub or shaft to which duplicating ribbons are conventionally attached and onto which they are conventionally wound.

This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be clear to lthose skilled in the art in Ithe light of the following disclosure including the drawing,

in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of a section of a duplicating ribbon according to the present yinvention `showing the ribbon attaching means at one stage of its preparation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view corresponding yto FIG. 1 and showing one form of ribbon attaching means in place.

PIG. 3 is a sectional view of the ribbon section of FIG. 2 having a strippable masking element applied over the adhesive element.

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the initial attachment of .the present ribbon on the take-up spool.

As shown in FIG. l, the present duplicating ribbons 1 comprise exible foundation strips comprising an inkitransfer section 11, such as inked fabric, and an ink-impermeable leader section 12, such as an aluminum foil, plastic sheet or any other suitable uninked flexible strip attached to the ink transfer section 11. The leader section 12 is provided adjacent its leading edge or terminus JCC with a multiplicity of spaced openings 13, the size land spacing of which varies depending upon the width of fthe ribbon 10. On a fourteen inch width ribbon 10, seven uniformly spaced circular openings 13 of one inch diameter may be used with excellent results. Such openings 13 occupy about one-half of ythe surface area of the width of the leading edge.

As shown -in FIG. 2, ythe bonding means for attaching the present ribbons 10 is an adhesive strip 14 which is `adhered Ito the underside 12a of .the leader section 12 so ythat the adhesive shows through -spaced openings 13, -asI shown at 15. The adhesive strip 14 applied so that its extends beyond the leading edge of .the leader section 12 to form a narrow `adhesive margin shown as 16.

Prior to use, the present ribbons 10 are provided with a strippable masking layer 17, shown in FIG. 3, to overlay the exposed adhesive areas 15 and 16 on the top surfaces 12b of the leader section 12 and prevent them from premature adhesion or loss of adhesive properties according to one embodiment of the present invention. The masking Ilayer 17 is preferably a tear-resistant, fair-impermeable material such as a strip of plastic film, resin-impregnated paper, aluminum foil or other suitable material. The masking layer 17, which also prevents the adhesive from drying out or becoming inactive, must be completely strippable from the exposed adhesive lareas 15, 16 without shredding or tearing.

When the present ribbons 10 area ready for attachment to a take-up spool 18, the masking layer 17 is stripped from the ribbon leader section 12 to expose adhesive areas 1S and 16. The rear surface 12a of the leader section 12 carrying the adhesive strip 14 is wound around the surface of the take-up spool 18, as shown in FIG. 4, so that 'the exposed adhesive areas 15 and 16 contact the rear surface 12a of the leader section 12 at areas 19 in the first revolution. At this point finger pressures are applied against the front surface 12b at areas 19 to form a strong adhesion between the rear surface of the leader section 12 and exposed adhesive area-s 15 and 16 ofthe adhesive strip 14. This forms a uniform bond across the width of the leader section 12 and insures uniform even winding of the ribbon 10 on the spool 18.

If unwinding is necessary for any reason, this may be accomplished without damage to the adhesive attaching means 14. Since the force applied to free the leader 12 Iat areas 19 merely pulls the adhesive strip 14 in-to closer contact with openings 13 and the rear surface 12a of the leader section 12 on which it is mounted, the adhesive strip 14 cannot be separated from the ribbon 10 in this manner. This is an important feature of the present invention which distinguishes it from the use of a two-sided adhesive strip mounted on the front surface of the leader section 12. Such an adhesive strip is pulled from the surface of the leader section 12 or Itears the leader sect-ion 12 when the ribbon 10 is unwound from the spool 18, so that proper rewinding cannot be accomplished in lmany instances and the attaching means is not reusable.

While the present invention is concerned primarily with wide ribbons of the fabric type, it should be understood that it also applies to duplicating ribbons of all widths and types. For instance, the ribbon 10 may have a plastic film foundation and carry a pressure-transferable solid layer based upon waxy or resinous binder materials, in which case the leader section 12 may consist of a portion of the film foundation free of transfer material. Actually in cases where the foundation is an impermeable material such as plastic film or treated paper, the leader section 12 need not be free of transfer material. Although such transfer material is wasted on the spool 18 and makes the ribbon 10 dirty to handle and attach, it is more economical to produce narrow ribbons such as typewriter ribbons in this manner and such narrow ribbons are not too diicult to handle and attach without dirtying the hands badly.

The adhesive strip 14 used on the present ribbons 10 may be any conventional paper base or film base pressuresensitive adhesive strip commercially available. Conventional masking tapes provide excellent results. Similarly, complementary adhesives which are not adhesive to the touch may be used on the adhesive strip 14 and the rear surface 12a of the leader section 12 to which the adhesive is to adhere at 15 and 16. Such complementary adhesives, conventionally used on envelopes, require no masking layer 17 since they are selectively adhesive only with respect to each other and will not adhere to other objects and will not dry out or become inactive. Complementary adhesives are generally based upon silicone resins.

In cases where the adhesive strip is adhesive per se, the necessity for the masking layer 17 can be avoided by folding the leading edge so that the exposed adhesive areas 15 and 16 releasably adhere to the top surface 12b of leader section 12 for their protection and can be easily released therefrom for use.

It should be understood that the shape or size of the openings 13 in the leading edge of the present ribbons 10 can be varied depending upon the width of the ribbons 10 and the type of spool 18 to which they are to be attached. Similarly, the number of openings 13 will vary with the width of the ribbons 10 used. The use ofa multiplicity of spaced openings 13 makes it easier to strip the masking layer 17 from spaced adhesive areas 15, 16 and also easier to disengage the ribbon 10 from the spood 18 for realignment and reuse.

I claim:

1. A duplicating ribbon having a self-contained means for securing the ribbon around a spool Without adhesive attachment thereto, comprising a flexible foundation strip carrying a supply of imaging material which is pressurereleasable therefrom, said foundation strip having a flexible leading strip having a multiplicity of openings adjacent the leading edge thereof and having positioned on the underside of said leading strip an adhesive tape carrying a layer of pressure-responsive adhesive material, said adhesive material bonding the tape to the underside of the leading strip and a portion thereof extending beyond the leading edge of the leading strip to provide a narrow strip of exposed adhesive material, and other portions thereof being exposed through said openings, said exposed adhesive material being exposed through the top side of the leading strip and being adapted for pressure-responsive adhesive engagement with the underside of the du- .4 plicating ribbon when the ribbon is wound on a spool, said adhesive tape being resistant to detachment from said leading strip during detachment of said ribbon from a spool since the application of a separating force between said tape and said underside pulls said tape into closer bonding engagement with the underside of the leading strip adjacent said openings.

2. A duplicating ribbon according to claim 1 in which the spaced openings in the leading strip are circular and are of such uniform diameter and uniform spacing as to occupy about one-half of the surface area of the width of the leading strip adjacent its leading edge.

3. A duplicating ribbon according to claim 1 in which the foundation strip comprises a woven fabric impregnated with liquid ink, and the leading strip of the foundation strip comprises a length of ink-impermeable flexible material free of ink.

4. A duplicating ribbon according to claim 1 in which the exible leading strip comprises an ink-impermeable material from the group consisting of metallic foil, plastic lm and resin-treated paper.

5. A duplicating ribbon according to claim 1 in which the layer of adhesive material is one which is adhesive per se, and a strippable lmasking layer is present on the top side of the leading strip releasably adhered to the exposed portions of the adhesive material.

6. A duplicating ribbon according to claim 1 in which the layer of adhesive material is one which is not adhesive to the touch but which is selectively adhesive with respect to adhesives of similar type, and at least a portion of t-he underside of the leading strip is provided with a layer of material which is selectivelyfadhesive with respect to said layer of adhesive material and which is positioned for engagement therewith on the ribbon spool.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,361,244 l/1968 Arena et al. l97-l72 X 385,391 7/1888 Underwood et al. 197-172 2,276,324 3/1942 Mann 197-172 2,438,063 3/1948 Lorenz-Risler 197-172 2,789,677 4/1957 Zaiser 197--172 3,108,675 lO/1963 Rooney 197-172 3,286,808 11/1966 Arena et al. 197-172 FOREIGN PATENTS 504,341 4/ 1939 Great Britain.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, JR., Primary Examiner. 

